Contrasting powerplays at the heart of India's tri-series opener defeat

Sri Lanka head coach Chandika Hathurusingha had admitted from the outset that India start the Nidahas Trophy as favourites. But that hasn't led to any diffidence in the hosts' dressing room.

Whether that was due to Sri Lanka's recent turn of fortune in Bangladesh, or their home advantage or even the change of guard in the coaching staff, is hard to tell.

But clearly, the hosts came prepared for the challenge, and were led admirably by the comeback man Kusal Perera, who played a whirlwind knock. The powerful southpaw hit four sixes and six fours in his 37-ball 66 to fashion a crucial win over Rohit Sharma & Co., and was the central character in the defining six-over powerplay that made the difference in the contest.

While the Indian batsmen managed 40 runs from their first six overs, they also lost two crucial wickets up front. The hosts, however, smashed 75 runs in the same phase - their highest-ever score in the powerplay overs - with Perera dictating terms. Perera, who is known for his big-hitting abilities, went for the jugular right from the start - his first runs of the evening came through a towering six off Washington Sundar, before he laid into Shardul Thakur's opening over that fetched him 27 runs - including five fours and a six.

That over in the powerplay shook India, and even though they clawed back to an extent in the middle overs, it wasn't enough.

"I think the powerplay made the difference. The way Kusal [Perera] scored those 33 [27] runs in that over... it was after six overs that they were 70-something [75 for 2], those 25 [35] runs made the difference," Shikhar Dhawan, who top-scored in the match with a 49-ball 90, noted post-match.

Earlier in the evening, India too tried to make the most of the fielding restrictions, but miscued hits and a high percentage of failed slogs in the first few overs put them off rhthym at the start. Although Dhawan and Manish Pandey stitched a 95-run stand over the course of India's innings, the start from the duo was very edgy.

Rohit Sharma miscued a loft in the first over while Suresh Raina missed a tame full toss. Although there were a few boundaries that came early on, two of the first four for Dhawan, were mistimed hits. While he was able to right those wrongs through a prolonged stay at the crease, Pandey suffered through the course of the innings, looking uneasy against the short ball. Dhawan too seemed rattled by Nuwan Pradeep's bouncers but each of the three top-edges went through no-man's land for four behind square.

For Sri Lanka though, the story was different, as Perera and Danushka Gunathilaka hit everything off the meat of the bat. Dhawan admitted that the game was taken away from India during those six overs, even as he felt 'a bit of dew' may have had a role to play.

"They [Sri Lanka] did not bowl differently. Maybe, there was a bit of dew towards the end. The wicket was fine, maybe was on the slower side. It was not like a normal patta [flat] wicket, it was a slow patta. If you see the first six overs of us and theirs, that's where they took the game away from us," Dhawan said on Tuesday(March 6).

India losing two wickets for just nine runs, as opposed to Sri Lanka's 70 when Danushka Gunathilaka departed in the fifth over, too, dictated the different approaches adopted by the two teams. While Perera had the license to go for his shots, Dhawan couldn't as his exit would've exposed the middle-order very early. A struggling Pandey didn't help the cause either.

"They took two wickets in their first two overs and that's the damage they did to us. When you lose two wickets in the first two overs.. if we hadn't lost them, we would have been more aggressive. But we had to see to it that we don't lose any more wickets and at the same time, score runs. We were maybe 5-6 runs short to what we generally achieve, maybe 10 runs short. But on this track, I felt 170 was a good score," Dhawan said.

Sri Lanka hit eight fours and four sixes when the field was up, while India could only manage five fours in the same period. With Sri Lanka gaining a head start of 35 runs in the first defining phase of the game, there was very little India could do to pull things back under control. They tried tooth and nail as they constricted the run-flow to just 14 from four overs in the middle, but such was the impact at the top for Sri Lanka, that even one bad over would've turned the tables back on India again.

Vijay Shankar and Jaydev Unadkat leaked 27 runs between them in overs 16-18 and that effectively brought an end to India's hope of a late, dramatic comeback.

Dhawan reckoned there was nothing to be worried about since it was just one loss, but, he and his teammates will know fully well that his opening partnership with Rohit could play a pivotal role for them through the series. More so in the absence of a certain Virat Kohli at No.3.